Any Coco Grower Questions? PART 2

We came from here:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/957336/

Reciprocating saw Ggirl. I am SO impressed! [is it yours?]

I really liked the idea of cutting up the coir while dry and putting it in the trays to plump. Would you mind reposting that gymgrl since it came at the end of the other thread. I really want to try that. Im guessing you cut them a little smaller than the 'hole'....maybe not.

That's great gg, She's on your side!! LOL

Bubba!

I was thinking about you just yesterday as I was threshing the rest of the Osaka Purple Mustard seeds. I need to send you some to grow! I'll send a packet to the shop, ok?

Thanks for switching us over Gymgirl! I'll take some pictures today of where I'm going to put a few of my remaining EBs of course using only coco coir. Had to stop working out there as it was getting terribly windy but I did get my weed killer down where I intend to set my four EB melon garden. Slowed up a lot this year because of the construction here but I won't be planting as much as last year because I still have a lot of work to do in the way of weeding my front area. Any volunteers???

Paw, I need a vacation so bad I'm desperate enough to come to Florida and weed your front yard!

No thank you! I need my toes!! LOL

Whew! I just read the whole previous thread. Great info everyone. I bought some coco coir recently and had no idea what to do with it. I am so glad for this thread.

Boca Bob....how bout some new pics of those beans you planted in March???

edited to ask: How do you order from Boca Bob?

This message was edited Apr 20, 2009 2:44 PM

I cut to the chase and Dmail him

A girl with a sabre saw! Geezzz........this is indeed getting to be a more dangerous world!

You should see what she can do with a hammer, too, Jay

I'm sure I'm going to have more coco questions as I go along-I'm in the process of switching my 6 EBs to coir (have a big tucker tote of BocaBob's coir + perlite hydrating in the back)-I plan on putting tomatoes & peppers in these, but it's still too early here to plant them out. Luckily, I work p/t in a local garden center-I have access to lots of seedlings & material, but until I go on hiatus mid-June (when the kids get out of school), I don't have lots of time to work in my garden. So, do we still put a dry fertilizer strip in the coir?

I also have some EZGro stackers coming, & I'm going to use Devota's great idea of a black nursery pot underneath to catch the fertilized runoff-maybe coleus in the bottom? & Jaywhacker's polemounting method (& a diffuser pot on top w/ a pod of slow release fertilizer)-I think I will do 4 stackers per pole over a bottom pot.

It's been raining steadily here all day (my boss called yesterday & said not to come into work), so I went out & picked up some seeds, 3 of the 15" stacking planters, & put some coir outside to hydrate in the rain.

I grow other stuff besides edibles-Japanese maples, palms, perennials-hellebores, geraniums, ferns, heucheras, & may start using the coir w/ my planting mixes-have been using coco chips for the orchids for 2 years & I'm pleased with how it holds up (the orchids all get thrown outside on benches for the summer, hosed down occasionally).

For my JMs (I have about 10 in large containers & about 20 in 1 gallon containers), I use a fast draining mix-pine fines, perlite, permatill or Espoma soil perfector, & potting mix-I think I could sub coir for one of these & have it work. My plants have been in this mix for 2+ years, outside, & I have had minimal losses (maybe 1 plant /yr).

My maples are absolutely beautiful this time of the year, w/ their leaves unfolding. I've underplanted some of them w/ geraniums, aruncus aethusfolius, black mondo grass. I don't fertilize them at all, as long as they have a fast draining mix, they're good...

I haven't seen anything that drains faster than Bocabob's coco coir except a collander!

Thistle..........Well now I have heard it all!! Putting coir outside in the rain to hydrate it. You deserve a Coca'NUT award for that one.

Congratulations on the new stackers. The EZgro's will do you proud. Not as pretty as some of the others because the plant sites protrude out there but that is so you can work easy in them plus the air and sunshine can get to them better. And they are made of tough stuff. Im thinking of putting mine in my will for one of my great grandchildren. :-)

What ratio of coir/perlite are you planning to use? I dont have any earth boxes but for the life of me I dont understand why a coir perlite mix wouldnt work good in an earthbox and with a good brand of controlled release fertilizer mixed into it. I know the way that earthbox recommends works fine and has been successfully proven for many years. But a mixture of about 80% coir to 20% perlite should work good. That should be a nice fluffy and aireated mix with enough drawing power to suck up the water from the reservoir. You wouldn't need the Lime strip to cancel out the acidic nature of a peat mix and you wouldnt need it to supply calcium to something like tomato's if the controlled release fertilizer is of the type to supply that. I think that Dynmite stuff that Tplant recommends might do the trick.

I have also seen it said that you cannot add soluable fertilizer to the resevoir of an earthbox, that the plants couldn't suck up the fertilizer. Why not?? I know it has to be the type of soluable fertilizer that completely dissolves in water rather than the type that settles out after a short time but those are available. I think the EZgro and the Verti'gro formula's would work. Then you could just put coir/perlite grow mix in the earthbox and put fertilized water in the reservoir. Seems like a more simple system to me. And I like the way that soluable fertilizer's can make an immediate difference to the plants.

Im glad to see you joining me in my experiment of putting slow release fertilizer pellets in the diffuser pot on top of your stack of stackers. Last year and now early this year I have just throwed some pellets in the diffuser pots and it seems to work fine for the flowers and stuff I grow plus an occassional run of soluable fertilizer down the stacks. I did not burn anything up last year but as uncontrolled as my methods are, I may wipe out everything growing in about a hundred pots this year. I am going to start putting the slow release pellets into a coffee filter and staple it together as a little bag. That way I can open the bag after awhile and see if all the fertilizer is used up. Might even get more scientific by actually measuring out one or two table spoons each time rather than just throwing in a dab here and a dab there.

But be careful. I do think I over fertilized one pole this year that I planted freesia bulbs in.

Hi Guys --- Just got chased inside because of high winds and thunder in the distance but I got something accomplished if you will allow me to show you? First off I was well set up and filling my EBs with coir but only filled one because of weather. This was my comfy work area as the back is now completely cleared except for the trees that will be planted on the other side.

This will be my melon area. I'll probably add another strip of weed killer tomorrow as melons need room. Big difference now since they had a mound of dirt right in the center.

A block of coco coir waiting to be hydrated. It only takes me about five minutes to do so with my high pressure hose. I used to have to lug the heavy bags of mix which for me is dangerous because I am disabled.

This message was edited Apr 20, 2009 5:14 PM

These are the contents that I mix into the coir bfore I fill it to the top. On the left epsom salts 1/2 cup, dolomite lime 2 cups and 10-10-10 fertilizer also 2 cups. I then wet thoroughly until I see water draining out and then add coir to the top and cover.

While I'm at it ,my pepper garden which took a real beating today from our heavy winds. The very last EB is Okra for my DIL as I dislike the taste.

The first two oblong EBs are honeydews which I shall trellis with the trellis's specific for EBs. I had good luck with my melons last year although I did start them in March which is a much earlier beginning but I'm sure they will be OK. I always direct seed all my melons as they have very sensitive roots and don't like to be transplanted. It burns me up to see the stores selling them as seedlings. You have less than a 50-50 chance of production.

This EB is almost ready for planting. All I have to do is add more coir to the top ,pack it down somewhat, cover and slice X's where I want to plant the seed. That is it for now..

Ted it is so good to see that you're back in the garden again. There's nothing like it and I bet it really lifts your spirits. D

It really did --especially after the past few days. Tomorrow I hope to finish my melons and also plant my corn. Right now we have rain with thunder and lightening. Nice to be inside looking out.

Tplant, I'm following your idea of putting the EBs on landscape fabric/weedblocker. Last year, it was a real pain trying to keep the grass around them trimmed (although my cat really loved lying in the nice, grassy, shaded areas between the EBs-she felt like a lion on the savannah).
I'm also going to follow your lead on fertilizer-last year, I went all organic, w/ lime, tomatotone, greensand, & cottonmeal, but I think this year I'll try tomatotone, lime, gypsum & epsom salt.
Last year, I set up a micro-irrigation system for the beds around my house (Mister Landscaper brand) & it was a godsend. I still use soaker hoses for the outlying beds (w/ shrubs & perennials), but I plan on trying to fix up another line for the EBs & stackers. If I get REAL energetic, I'll tie in a fertilizer barrel, but if I just automate the watering & try to hand fertilize every other day, I'll be happy...

May I suggest using weed killer before you put down the weedcloth as the grass will push up the weed cloth and do use garden staples to hold down your cloth.

I'll do that-this is an area, behind the garage & off the sunporch, that eventually I'd like to put in a stone patio. It may be far off in the future still, but I have no problem killing off the grass & weeds here. The first year we were here, I put down newspaper & mulch, but now it's long gone. Unfortunately, this area is also my potting space, my 'pot ghetto', my place for things that need frequent watering (the palms)-since it's right outside the back door. I hope I can make it look a bit more organized this summer....

I'm contemplating my okra problem now because I'm getting ready to plant. I can't put it in ground without running the risk of the gopher toppling my plants from burrowing again.

I want to plant some in 5 gallon grow bags with coconut coir, but the plants get really big,at least mine did last year when planted in ground.

Do you think this will work for okra?

I grew my okra last year in the EB's. Didnt have the coir then, but either/or, the EB works great for it.

Pugsley, was the bag that the gopher went into sitting on landscape fabric? Did the goph tunnel under the bag or head through the side? I'm thinking ahead for myself and I wondered if anything like landscape fabric or maybe chicken wire under the bags would deter them. D

sorry...I know this is "off line."

This message was edited Apr 21, 2009 9:56 AM

Hi Devota,
The funny thing about that gopher is that he literally climbed into the bag, he did not make a hole. He dived in headfirst, tunnelled down and back up right under the root of the lettuce. Never seen anything like it.

My question about the okra, I guess is not will it grow in that bag, I know it will, but is it going to be too big for the bag and make it fall over or what have you? My okra got to be about 5 1/2 feet tall last year. Maybe I can do it and support it somehow?

Pugzley -- Use a large wooden or vinyl coated stake used for tomatos and drive it into the ground not into the bag and as the okra gets taller just tie it up with vinyl tape or ribbon. Don't use thread or you may bruise the stalk. I really don't think you will have to do anything as once the bag is set it is very sturdy but staking couldn't hurt?

I had to stake my okra in the EB . It had really thick stalks, but eventually the heighth got the best of it.

Thanks for the replies. I figured I'd have to do something. I noticed when I removed them, that the okra didn't seem to have really deep roots, but that could be because the gopher chewed them all off and ate them.

I'll definitely stake them up. I might be able to put them by my tomato plants and use the clothesline with hanging twine and vine clips. Thanks! I have got to have my okra! If everything else quits, that okra just keeps on producing in the heat.

gardenglory, what kind of production did you get from the okra in the earthboxes?

I got about the same as in the ground....per size. The ones in the box, for me just got so much bigger. Im still on the fince as to whether Im going with them in the EB this year or just put more in the ground. It would not even be an issue, but I only have 10 EB's and so much I want to try.
The good thing about the okra is, I dont even plant it till after the tomoatoes are thru. Frees up some boxes.

Thank you. If you don't have burrowers, I'd plant them in ground to save your boxes. I really hate using my growbags and coir for these, but no choice, because okra will grow just about anywhere in anything. :)